18:30 – 20:00

Celebrate the Summer Solstice with an evening discussing Enlightenment, the spell-binding new novel from renowned author, Sarah Perry.

The newest story from award-winning novelist Sarah Perry, Enlightenment weaves a web of entangled relationships and emotion, its characters trapped within the conflict between faith and fact blazes in a small town in Essex. Traversing some of the biggest questions on an intimate and captivating level, Enlightenment will stay with you long after closing the final page.

Join us for an intimate evening at Jodrell Bank to celebrate this incredible new novel, including a reading and Q&A session with the author.

AND don’t forget to pre-book a delicious lunch in the First Light Pavilion Cafe – with fresh, locally sourced ingredients and a view of the stars, this is the perfect addition to your Summer Solstice. To pre-book just add a meal to to your basket, and then fill in our short form with your choices for lunch and/or dinner options.

Explore the rest of the Summer Solstice day programme HERE, and pick up tickets for a day of panels, workshops and events in celebration of Alan Garner, one of the UK’s most prolific writers. 

Pre-order Sarah Perry’s ‘Enlightenment‘ when you buy your tickets. Books will be available for collection on the night. 

About the Author

Sarah Perry is the internationally best selling author of the novels Melmoth, The Essex Serpent, and After Me Comes the Flood, and the non-fiction Essex Girls. She is a winner of the Waterstone’s Book of the Year Awards and the British Book Awards, and has been nominated for major literary prizes including the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Folio Prize and the Costa Novel Award. Her essays have been widely published, and she has contributed to the Guardian, the New York Times, the Observer, and the London Review of Books. Her second novel, the No 1 bestseller The Essex Serpent, is currently streaming, starring Claire Danes in the lead role.

‘I’ve never read a book where the principles and themes of astronomy are so fundamental to the story-telling itself. It’s an absolute joy to find the science embedded so seamlessly into the narrative – even to the extent that the theme of ‘hidden figures’ of space science is threaded through it all. Definitely recommended for all fans of star-gazing!’
– Prof. Teresa Anderson, Director of Jodrell Bank Centre for Engagement & event chair

Pre-event Dining

Join us in the First Light Pavilion Café for pre-event dining.

Pie, Mash, Peas & Gravy, £12.95

High quality pies from H.M. Pasties was set up to ‘bring out the good inside’ by employing ex-offenders to make and sell handmade pasties and pies. The social enterprise was born in 2018 with support from the Big Lottery Fund, Forward Trust, and the Santander Foundation. Vegetarian and gluten free choices available.

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